Noun. General Educational Development. The GED is an educational certificate awarded in the
United States and Canada which certifies that the recipient has met the minimum requirements necessary to graduate high
school. Some members of the academic elite enjoy ridiculing the
test and its alleged lack of significance or ease of completion, despite the fact that 30% of graduating high
school seniors fail it each year.
Reasons for dropping out of high
school and later pursuing the GED are diverse and include family problems, military service and economic conditions which force willing students to take full-time jobs. Thus, any stereotyping or derisive attitude toward those pursuing their GED's seems to come from a lack of compassion, or from pure, pompous arrogance.
Despite the belief that GED students are under-achievers or that they do not wish to pursue a higher education, the simple fact that they have chosen to
study for their GED renders this argument highly spurious. In addition, many of those who receive the certificate go on to college/university and enjoy successful, illustrious careers.
Among the most famous recipients of the GED are U.S. Senators
Ben Nighthorse Campbell and Paull Shin, Governors Jim Florio and Ruth
Ann Minner, Surgeon General Richard Carmona, and highly revered
ABC broadcast journalist Peter Jennings.
